76 ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCHES IN NICARAGUA. 



of black paint. Flint of great variety in color abounded in the mountains, and 

 I saw a vein of very pretty heliotrope, blood-stone. Urn burial was reported, 

 but not seen. 



The inhabitants of the town of Nicoya are light colored mestizos, generally 

 indicating more Spanish blood than is seen in the average Nicaraguan. In the 

 mountains there are some pure-blood Indians. Sugar, corn, and plantains 

 flourish in the valleys ; while the woods, according to the natives, yield fruit for 

 man's food the entire year. The cacao tree grows wild. 



On our return several ornaments in green stone were obtained at Sardinal. 

 Of these, two flat gorgets, a ball with perforations for a string, and an amulet 

 with a human face engraved on one side, were of the mineral called argillite, of 

 beautiful green color, but much softer than jade. There was a fragment of an 

 amulet or gorget of jadeite, No. 28,990, and what seemed the figure of a wood- 

 pecker, No. 28,978, in a greenish serpentine; also a turtle, No. 28,979, in a 

 curious marble-like green stone, and a black celt of volcanic rock. 



Huacas were noticed on the hills in evei'y direction, and two large basalt 

 idols were reported near Panama and others at Santa Rosa. 



Some of the painted fragments of pottery from Nagascola, in their markings 

 more closely resembled the Luna pottery than any other seen. The paint was' 

 much effaced and the lines uncertain. We had many apparently reliable reports 

 of a vein of green rock in the hills near this place, but personal investigation 

 met with disappointment. 



On the northwest side of Culebra Bay, between it and the ocean, extends a 

 narrow peninsula, in a gorge on the bay side of which is a small level space of 

 three or four acres. Shell-heaps, in some places six feet high, nearly cover this 

 space. Among the shells were many fragments of pottery, pieces of metates, 

 celts, stone axes, &c. Some of the painted terra-cotta resembled the Luna type. 

 The shells were of great variety, though principally oysters, clams, and volutes. 

 A native who lived there said that human bones were found in the heaps. In 

 one an excavation had been made, and basalt pillars were shown, like those in a 

 mound at Culebra reported by Dr. Flint, and some before mentioned at Santa 

 Helena. These were said to mark the positions of the skeletons. They did not 

 project above the surface. There was neither regularity nor symmetry in these 

 heaps, which were evidently kitchen-middens formed by the gradual accumula- 

 tion of shells. 



The little valley was extremely fertile, easily defended, and formed an 

 admirable location for a village in troublous times. On the hill, which was about 

 five hundred feet in height, there were other shell-heaps. 



